Girl Meets Cletis (One Shot)
by fireandice217
Summary: I've heard rumors that Cletis is going to show a romantic interest in Maya. Combine that with the writer's tweet about Lucas "breaking" in Texas, aaand this fanfic was born


The fight was nothing compared to the one that got him kicked out of school, but he had a feeling people were still going to react more or less the same way. Sitting in the guest house kitchen, he remembered it in flashes: he and Cletis screaming at each other, Maya pulling him back, Riley crying.

He winced as Maya pressed a wet washcloth to his raw knuckles. "Neosporin. It'll only sting for a minute." She'd dragged him into the kitchen the second she could get him away from Cletis. He'd expected her to sit him down so she could yell at him, but instead she went wordlessly to the cabinet and got out what she needed: Neosporin, wrap, band-aids, and then the washcloth from the drawer. She glided around the room with ease, never needing to stop to ask where something was.

"How are you so good at this?" He couldn't hide the admiration in his voice if he'd tried.

"I used to clean my dad up when he came home from his weekend bar fights."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Mom was always at work when he came home, or she'd be dead asleep. He'd come to the door all bloody, and I'd be ready with everything I needed. It gets to be a habit, being ready, knowing where everything is. Just in case."

He pulled his hand away, face red. "Maya. You don't have to-"

"Yes, I do. Don't you get it, Lucas? I'm not the only one cleaning up your mess right now. You don't think Farkle's out there comforting Riley? You don't think Zay's trying to convince your parents not to send you back to New York early? You don't think the Matthews are walking Cletis home?"

He stiffened awkwardly in his seat. "What's your point?"

"My point is you can't just walk away from everyone out there, clean yourself up, and pretend like nothing happened. My point is your actions affect people, whether you see it or not, and that's why I'm helping you right now. Because I need you to see that when you get yourself hurt in a fight, you get everyone around you hurt too. All the people who care about you." She took his hand back and wiped away the last traces of blood. "How's your chin?" He moved away the ice pack he'd been holding to it. "The swelling's going down; the bruise should be gone in a week." She got to work wrapping his hand.

He swallowed, hesitant to ask what was on his mind. "Did he ever stop getting into bar fights?"

She seemed hesitant to answer. "I have a question for _you:_ why'd you hit him? What did he do to set you off?"

Tried to kiss you. "I don't know... I think it was just being back here. This place, Cletis, it all reminded me of what I was like before I came to New York."

"But you've spent weekends here since then."

He didn't really have an answer to that; he offered a half shrug.

But she nodded a little, like she understood anyway. Maybe she did; he was afraid to ask. "He stopped drinking altogether about a year before he left. But I think that had more to do with the woman he was seeing than any effect my mom and I were having on him."

He swore his jaw would've hit the floor if it hadn't felt so numb from the ice. She went on, "But you're not like him, Lucas. With my dad, it was always about other people; he never wanted to change for himself."

Had Lucas changed for himself? "What's wrong with wanting to change for other people?"

"Other people aren't always enough."

She was enough. He wanted to tell her that, but his face was sore, and she was already leaving, probably to check on Riley. And Farkle. And Zay, and his parents, and the Matthews, and maybe even Cletis for all he knew. Her words rang in his head. _"I'm not the only one cleaning up your mess right now."_ "Maya, wait!"

She froze and turned back around, throwing him a quizzical look.

"Thank you." There was so much more he wanted to say, but in that moment he knew thanking her was the right thing.

She smiled. "No problem, Ranger Rick." She looked like she was about to leave again but then turned to him and said, "Oh, and the next time you punch out a guy for trying to kiss me? I might not be so gentle when I'm cleaning you up."

"Don't worry, I swear it won't happen-" he broke off midsentence as he realized what he'd admitted. "I mean-" She flashed him a crooked grin before leaving the kitchen for good.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I had that coming."


End file.
